Linus at an interview said that "If I didn't create Linux in 1992, by 1993 someone else would have done it. Linux was created because the time was right, the GN

Linus at an interview said that "If I didn't create Linux in 1992, by 1993 someone else would have done it. Linux was created because the time was right, the GNU ecosystem was there. The kernel was the missing part". Of course this is kind of speculation on one hand, but there was the Hurd project which might have taken off, or someone else could really have created something similar a year later, if it did not exist. BSD had it's licensing issues, which today seems more liberating - most programmers seem to embrace it - but in 1992 was seen a free ride license which is something most Linux developers did not like. That's why Linux grew so much,. Saying that FreeBSD would taken that niche seems a little bit off IMHO.